Russia’s Gazprombank Restores Ties with Iran

A senior official with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said Gazprombank, a major Russian bank, has started working with Iranian financial entities.

Gazprombank has forged business ties with Iran among other Russian banks, Akbar Komijani, deputy governor of the CBI, said as quoted by Bloomberg.

Highlighting the importance of enhanced banking ties between the two nations, he said Iran has held talks with “big Russian banks.”

Gazprombank is one of the three largest banks in Russia and ranks fifth in the list of banks in Central and Eastern Europe. It is owned by the Russian natural gas company Gazprom. Gazprombank as a universal financial institution delivers a wide range of banking and investment services for over 45,000 corporate and about 3 million private clients.

Earlier, a senior official with the Bank of Russia said a number of the country’s banks are ready to reestablish brokerage ties with Iran.

The Russian banker hailed Iran’s measures toward compliance with international banking standards and regulations, adding that the Bank of Russia is seeking to increase its cooperation with Tehran at the regional level.

In December, Valiollah Seif, the governor of the CBI, said both Tehran and Moscow have made the necessary preparations to create a mechanism to connect their banking sectors with the aim of facilitating trade between the two countries in their own currencies.

Seif said a special committee should be set up between Iran and Russia to identify the obstacles that are preventing the expansion of their mutual banking relations.

He also said that a technical team needs to be formed to activate mechanisms for providing credit lines between Iran and Russia.

Tehran and Moscow plan to boost mutual trade turnover from the current $1.7 billion to $10 billion.